West Virginia Walking Trails and Maps

454 Reviews

Looking for the best Walking trails around West Virginia?

Find the top rated walking trails in West Virginia, whether you're looking for an easy short walking trail or a long walking trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a walking trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.

In West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest, the Dolly Sods Wilderness features sweeping vistas, spruce and aspen groves, beautiful meadows, beaver dams and rolling creeks. The area is also home to...

The central point of the Caperton Trail is located in Morgantown, known as the home of West Virginia University, the inspiration for a Joni Mitchell song and the birthplace of Don Knotts. Morgantown...

Kanawha County’s Elk River Trail provides access to Coonskin Park, a large park originally built by local residents in the 1950s and now managed by the Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission....

The Joel McCann Memorial Trail is part of what will one day be a 16-mile rail-trail from Barrackville to Mannington following the former Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad. Currently, a 1-mile section of...

The Kaymoor Trail runs parallel to the New River between Fayetteville and Cunard in the National Park Service’s New River Gorge National River. Much of the stunning trail follows old roads and dormant...

The Lewis McManus Memorial Honor Trail, also known as the Beckley Rail Trail, travels from Mabscott, through the heart of Beckley, north to the Beckley Crossing Shopping Mall. It follows the route of...

The Limerock Trail is pure West Virginia: From Forest Service Road 18, the 4-mile rail-trail passes through rhododendron forests and along rocky cliffs and rushing streams. You begin with the sound of...

Located in the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area of the Monongahela National Forest—a hotspot for mountain biking and rock climbing—the Lumberjack Trail offers a scenic hike on an old...

The Narrow Gauge Trail in Babcock State Park follows the gentle grade of what was the Manns Creek Railway, which connected Clifftop to Sewell, until it closed in 1956. The trail is breathtaking, but...

The Panhandle Trail is another jewel in the Pittsburgh metro area trail system. A Conrail line, known as the Panhandle Railroad, once connected Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis on this...

In West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest, the Dolly Sods Wilderness features sweeping vistas, spruce and aspen groves, beautiful meadows, beaver dams and rolling creeks. The area is also home to...

Note: Portions of the Rend Trail are closed due to a bridge repair. The trail is closed 1.27 miles in from the Minden trailhead or 1.96 miles in from the Thurmond trailhead. According to the trail's...

In West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest, the Dolly Sods Wilderness features sweeping vistas, spruce and aspen groves, beautiful meadows, beaver dams and rolling creeks. The area is also home to...

In West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest, the Dolly Sods Wilderness features sweeping vistas, spruce and aspen groves, beautiful meadows, beaver dams and rolling creeks. The area is also home to...

The Tea Creek Area Trails system consists of 12 trails totaling 44 miles, many of which follow old logging railroad corridors. The trails are found in the Marlinton Ranger District within Monongahela...

The WV Route 9 Bike Path follows the busy thoroughfare from Martinsburg to the Charles Town/Ranson area. Note that the path runs through open space with little to no shade. While the southern portion...

West Virginia's West Fork River Trail provides a snapshot of some of the most beautiful scenery in this region. The trail's path was once used by the far-reaching Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to deliver...

The Wheeling Heritage Trails running on the former B&O line are known locally as two trails that connect in downtown Wheeling: the Ohio River Trail and the Wheeling Creek Trail. The route is flat and...

The White Oak Rail Trail runs for nearly 8 miles through the central West Virginia city of Oak Hill, connecting the communities of Summerlee and Carlisle at either end. Most of the trail is paved with...

Recent Trail Reviews

North Bend Rail Trail

great scenery

The River Bend State Park section (which was all I had time for) was very interesting historically as well as great scenery. The trail was easily navigable with awe-inspiring tunnels that cut through the terrain. With more time I would have liked to have biked west to Parkersburg.

Cheat Lake Trail

Nice trail

While in the area we decided to walk along this trail. Parked at the lot on top of the hill which is located on Morgans Run Road. This is also the parking lot for Cheat Lake Park. Walk down the hill and there is a small playground with restrooms. The trail runs in each direction. We walked along the lake towards the dam site. At the dam end of the trail (approx one mile from the park area) there are steps and at the top is another parking lot. That parking lot is literally on the border of Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The trail is flat and follows the lake on one side and a wooded hill on the other side.
A nice trial to visit if you're in the area.

East Wetzel Rail-Trail

Walked this trail today

We walked this trail today, it's a very short little trail but the plaque in town provides a great deal of history. This trail really could use some TLC. Tree limbs growing so low you have to go off the trail.

Panhandle Trail

SEPTEMBER 2018 PANHANDLE TRAIL

We parked near the fire department in Midway, PA. The parking lot is situated nearly on the trail with easy access. We took the trail left and rode about 3.5 miles to Sturgeon where the nice asphalt path became crushed rock near the Allegheny Co line. We turned around there preferring the asphalt and rode to Burgettstown, PA. At Burgettstown we turned around and rode back to our car only because we are older folks who bike only about 20 miles round trip. It was a nice cool fall feeling day. We saw many squirrels, birds, and beautiful golden rod fields dotted with purple iron-weed flowers throughout. A Giant Eagle grocery store is very near the McDonald, PA entrance to the trail which is a plus if you wanted to get drinks or snacks for the journey. Overall impression – Washington Co. is the winner when it comes to the Panhandle Trail. They have done an excellent job in making the bike trail smooth with asphalt, conveniently located porta-johns and nicely mowed areas and benches along the trail.

Greenbrier River Trail

A Secluded Ride

My brother and I rode the length of greenbrier, out and back, between 9/13 - 9/15 2018. We chose to start in Marlinton due to remoteness of the trail and lack opportunities to replenish supplies. Following this itinerary we would have the opportunity to either begin or end our day here and have access to most anything that we needed. I also had full cell service here on the AT&T network allowing us to check the weather forecast, check messages and check in with family.
Heading south from MM 55 toward Caldwell on the first day, we were quickly away from civilization and passed the only trail side convenience store at Seebert (~MM46). The trail was well maintained in this section and easy to ride with our hybrids. I was pulling a Bob trailer with camping gear. The scenery is beautiful including the Droop Mountain tunnel and there are many very nice cabins/summer homes here. There is ample river access for fishing or refreshing with a swim. After hearing from some locals that the water fountain at the 3.1 MM was broken, we decided that our time would be better spent finding a clean water source. We slightly shortened our trip and set up camp at the 9.5 MM camp site. I would advise bringing some method for filtering water if you plan to ride for a length of time. There are few opportunities to fill water bottles.
The site here was very nice with a brand new camping shelter. The only downside was lack of water. We had to ride 5 miles round trip to find a spring.
Day 2, heading north back toward Marlinton we had the motivation of knowing that we could get some prepared food and cold drinks in Seebert. When in Marlinton, we returned to our vehicles to charge our phones and drove across the bridge to the IGA grocery store for water and food for our last day. We camped at MM 64, this site was similar to the others with fire ring/cooking grate, level crushed limestone tent pad, outhouse, shelter and even had a water pump.
Day 3 we began heading north to Cass (16 mi) where we planned to turn around and finish in Marlinton. This section had some muck which made it difficult to maintain a good roll. This was also the only section that had a noticeable grade. After learning this, it may be worth considering starting out in this section as opposed to making the climb on tired legs. The river looked very favorable for fishing here as well and I regret not stoping to make a few casts. The second of two tunnels is on this stretch so be sure to bring a light.
Overall, a very well maintained trail, more than sufficient camping facilities and remarkable scenery. I would recommend this ride to anyone who has the desire go off of the grid for a few days. I plan to return and spend some time on the river.

Greenbrier River Trail

Good Ride

A friend and I bike-packed the trail (Caldwell to Cass and back) 10-12 Sep 2018, Trail was in good shape. Keep in mind this is a long 77 mile trail (yes 77 miles, trail starts at mile marker 3, goes to mile marker 80) mostly through wilderness. Yet the upkeep of the trail was very good. Despite getting rain at least once a day (and locals indicated that the summer has been very wet), the trail was in great shape. There were some muddy/greasy spots - spots being the operative word here - (note; this is before Florence) but not many.

The trail surface was good, some isolated spots were more gravelly where recent repairs or maintenance had been done. I rode a full suspension mountain bike (definitely overkill - rode with suspension locked out). My friend rode a no suspension Trek Crossrip. Both of us were fully loaded with camping gear and clothes and neither of us had any issue with the trail. Any hybrid with decent off road tires will do fine here.

The trail is typically dual track with both "lanes" rideable. While there ar every short lengths where the tracks get narrow (mostly in open grassy sections), they are few and far between and not real problems at all.

We rode three days, 55 mi Caldwell to Marlinton (camped at Stillwell park) on day 1, then 65 miles up to Cass and then down to a cabin at Watuga St Park on day 2 before finishing 43 miles back to Caldwell on day three.

Note to bikers, if you rent a cabin at Watuga, know that the park office is 5 miles off the trail (uphill), not what you want to deal with if you've had a long day in the saddle already. We called and switched o one of the two cabins on the river and had them leave the key in the cabin for us - avoiding the trek to the office.

Note also that Marlinton is in the National Radio Quiet Zone and has very limited cell coverage. However, both the visitor's center and the Dirtbean Café have free wifi and you can make phonecalls over wifi from either location.

Only negative is the lack of towns and amenities along the route, especially between Caldwell and Marlinton. Once we hit Marlinton, the Dirtbean Café (Café, bar (wine/beer), Pizza joint, Coffe Shop, and bike shop) became our lodestone. Good food, good local craft beer, friendly staff. Hit it three times in our up and back journey (really good craft brews).

Bottom line, good trail for a multi day trip (have to plan it right though). An contrary to an earlier review, WV can be proud of this trail.

Panhandle Trail

Burgettstown to Weirton and back

The renovated portion of the Panhandle from Burgettstown to Weirton is paved and beautiful. We bicycled this trail in mid-September and the goldenrod was plentiful. There is Harmon Creek next to this section for quite awhile. When we got to West Virginia, the surface changed to dirt and small stones. This was OK, but you can't ride as fast on it. We hoped to have lunch in Weirton, but there are no sandwich or snack places anywhere near the trail. You have to go on the road to the downtown of Weirton, and we did not do that. We went back to Burgettstown and were amazed to get free hot dogs at the Grand Opening of a small market right at the parking lot for the trail. We just lucked out. It is 12 miles from Burgettstown to Weirton with a rise and fall of 500 feet. A great ride.

Greenbrier River Trail

Stunning, beautiful, tranquil

On Sept. of 2018 I rode the entire trial both ways over 5 days, a total of nearly 160 miles. I am confused about the post from pfh24 that said it was the worst trail he had ridden. I found the trail in good condition all the way. Of course, there were some muddy spots as it has rained a lot this year and the week I was there, there is new gravel in places which one would expect on a trail this long, and the grass needed mowing in a few places but the middle of the trail was always fairly short grass and most of the grass on the trail on both sides was fine. There has been a lot of rain so grass grows fast in that situation. I started in Lewisburg and rode up approximately 15 to 20 miles one way, turned around and rode back to my car. I like to ride trails both ways because it is like riding two trails as you see it differently in opposite directions. The trail follows the beautiful and crystal clear river most of the way and you pass pretty farms along the way. It was not near as remote as I expected as there are many homes, mostly weekend and vacation homes along the river in a number of places and there are people living at the trailheads so you do not feel isolated which is good and bad. It was a wonderful week and I plan to do it again next year. The Seebert trailhead is a nice one as you can take the bridge across the river and Watoga State Park is directly across the bridge and they have cabins, swimming pool , trails, tennis, etc. there so it is a nice park. I plan to stay there next time instead of 3 nights in Lewisburg and two in Marlinton. I definitely recommend this trail and will definitely go back again if possible. am a 72 year old male and would recommend the wider tires on a mountain bike versus hybrid or rode narrower tires. There are places where it is more safe for stability to have the wider tires. I stayed at a Holiday Inn in Lewisburg and the Old Clark Inn in Marlinton. The Old Clark is an old small hotel and is clean and breakfast was good. It is old though but I found it fine and the folks were very nice there.

Panhandle Trail

Fantastic trail for a good 4 hr workout

The Washington count piece, which is the vast majority-is all paved and in great shape! Surprising elevation changes-not enough to gas you but when you do the whole trail from Carnegie to Wierton on a sunny, humid day (57.7miles) it is challenging.

I did the trail on a hybrid bike 🚲, which is a cross between a road bike & mountain bike, and it was fine. The first 6.7 miles from Carnegie are packed gravel, then 4 miles in WV sorta looser gravel. The end in WV is disappointing in that u r in middle of nowhere, surrounded by roads but with no clearly discwrnable way to Wierton city center or Ohio River.

Thumbs up whoever maintains trail-grass cut, trees trimmed, nothing to distract from the task at hand

WV Route 9 Bike Path

Gentle Rollers

Enjoyable ride, some level areas and a few gentle rollers. Beginners may find it slightly challenging due to the hills but for the experienced rider it’s a cake walk. NOTE: there is no shade to speak of, take a camel pak and hydrate because it’s hot as hades and there is no escape from the sun.

Deckers Creek Trail

Scenic walk 'n roll

The wife and I walked from Masontown for a couple miles towards Reedsville. My wife's mobility scooter had no problem navigating the trail. Some of the bridges have a small 1 or 2 inch "step", which I just kicked some stones against to smooth it out a bit for her 8" wheels.
I recommend bringing a camera. I posted a couple pics but they don't really do this trail justice.